Connections of the Heart
by yoshi ftw
Summary: “A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.” - Heraclitus of Ephesus
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** _A sorta, kinda, not really old story from back on my Quizilla account that I'm revamping so it's not full of so much suck. _

I suppose darkness isn't something we should fear. Without the dark, there can be no light. Without the bad, there would be no good. The hearts of every person contain darkness; whether it devours them completely or the light overcomes the darkness is up to them. Sometimes though, one can't help but to let the darkness eat away at their heart. No one is capable of fighting the darkness once they let it in. I learned that the hard way.

I wish things would go back to the way they were before; before I discovered what I was and before I lost everything precious to me.

**Before I let the darkness in.**

When people say nothing lasts forever, they're not kidding. The life I had before the darkness took over was nothing to complain about. I had a family that loved and cared about me and friends that would die for me. I had a great life, it wasn't perfect, but the imperfections are what made it so great, and what made me who I am.

**I had everything to lose.**

And I did, I did lose everything. My family, my friends… my world. I lost it all when those creatures came from the darkness. I remember hearing the screams of people from the hallways as I sat in the classroom of my high school. Everyone had glanced at the door nervously, afraid of what lied beyond it. And I remember the feeling of comfort I had when he put his hand on mine, looking at me with those stormy gray eyes that held all the reassurance I needed. I remember, squeezing his hand tightly not wanting to let go as the screams continued to echo on and the room held an eerie silence. That is, until I first saw it. Those creatures that ruined my world. Their eyes all seemed to wander to me as they appeared from the dark pools on the ground. I remember that was the first time I was truly afraid, afraid that everything would suddenly change and I couldn't stop it.

They began to attack everyone and I could do nothing to stop them. I wished everything could've frozen and I'd wake up, but I didn't. I didn't wake up; this wasn't a dream and nothing would ever be the same.

I remember the dark indigo sky I saw from the broken windows, a giant ball of pure darkness sucking everything up like a vacuum. Trees, houses even large buildings weren't safe from the suction. I felt a tug at my hand and he quickly pulled me to the windows, trying to get away from those creatures. The screams had stopped and bodies were strewn across the floor, lifeless eyes still open. I would never forget their haunting gaze as they stared at me. Then the creatures began to crawl towards us and I could do nothing but watch. We were both paralyzed. I couldn't move, oh how I wanted to move, but the puddle of darkness that had latched onto our feet and slowly began to spread to the rest of our bodies. And we were pulled through the darkness. Before we were completely submerged in darkness I heard him say something, I didn't understand it then, but I do now. Five simple words that would linger in my mind for the rest of my journey.

**I'll always be with you.**

_I'll always be with you too._


	2. Oh, My Heart

**Author's Note: **_New chapter! Enjoy (:_

I groaned, bringing my hand up to my face, rubbing my eyes groggily. I squinted slightly, taking in my surroundings. I was in an alleyway, a cold, damp and dark alleyway that smelled of fresh rain and garbage. Lifting myself off the cold ground, I ignored the throbbing feeling at the back of my head as I noticed a broken mirror nearby. Stumbling over to it, I gave myself a good look over; I had scrapes all over my face as well as a busted lip. Licking my chapped lips I began to examine my clothes. My forest green baseball jersey was frayed around the edges, and my jean shorts were a bit ripped up too. Luckily my bat case as well as my lucky hat were securely in place.

"Mom's going to think I got in a fight again." I winced slightly as I put pressure on my cheek, "Better yet, where the hell am I?"

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." Jumping slightly at the bubbly voice and whipped around, coming face to face with large chocolate brown eyes and a grinning face.

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" I fell back onto my rear, scrambling away from the girl who looked just a few years older than I was. She was wearing pale yellow shorts and a forest green tube top with a yellow scarf and a headband. Her brightly colored clothes looked rather out of place in the dingy alley, "Don't sneak up on people like that! You can give someone a heart attack!"

"Aha, oops." She rubbed the back of her head, sending her raven colored hair askew as she grinned down at me sheepishly.

"Who are you anyway?"

"I'm the _GREAT _ninja Yuffie!" She beamed with pride.

"Um, right the great ninja Yuffie, can you tell me where I am?" I averted my vision from her. She makes me feel uncomfortable.

"You're in Traverse Town! Anyway, what's your name?"

'Where the hell is Traverse Town? I've never heard of it…' I stood back up, dusting myself off, "I'm Jaci White, do you know where Nyx is?"

"Where?" She asked, her face blank.

"Nyx." I stated again, an anxious feeling bubbling in my stomach.

"Wait, wait…I think I-" She stopped, "Nope no idea."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO IDEA! WHAT THE HELL PLANET AM I ON?!" I shouted at her, but she remained calm, a slight grin on her face.

"I told you, you're in Traverse Town."

"And where exactly is that!" At this point, I was about to take my bat out and beat her with it.

"Hm, how to explain this." She put a finger to her chin in a thinking gesture, "What world are you from?"

"Er… Aether?"

"Well, you see, this isn't Aether, this world is called Traverse Town. You see there are millions of worlds out there…"

Cue freak out. "Hold on, wait, wait, wait. I'm on an entirely different planet?!" I screeched, holding my head as my vision began to blur.

"Pretty much." Yuffie answered nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders.

I groaned, hitting my head against the brick wall, chanting over and over again, 'Why me?'

"Um, I don't think you should be doing that. You'll lose brain cells!" She grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the wall, "C'mon, I was supposed to meet Squall a while ago, he might get mad if I'm late."

I just nodded, following her obediently, still chanting over and over again in my head, 'Why me?'

We made our way out of the alley and to a huge set of doors, she pushed one open and led me through, closing it afterwards.

"Where are we going?"

"I told you already, we have to meet up with Squall, he's in the First District." She pulled me towards a stair way, where a man with shoulder-length brown hair stood and a boy with spiky chestnut hair was collapsed on the brick floor in front of him.

"You're slipping Squall." Yuffie called out to the man, who I'm assuming is Squall.

"It' Leon." He grunted, not looking at us, "I went easy on him. It looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse." He said, his blue eyes gazing over us and his face coming into full view. His eyes wandered to me, "Who are you?"

"Jaci."

He nodded slightly, hauling the boy up from the ground and onto his shoulder, "Come on Yuffie." Yuffie began following him, tugging me along with her.

______________

We came to a hotel, which was very unoriginally named Hotel. Leon set the boy down on the bed when we entered the room, Yuffie and I took seats at the table in the middle of the room and Leon leaned up against the wall.

It was an odd kind of silence, it wasn't awkward, but it wasn't all that comfortable either, I glanced at the boy unconscious on the bed. He had a cherub-like face, his auburn hair stuck up at odd angles and his body was garbed in red and black. I glanced at the chained-necklace that hung from his neck and my hand found it's way up to my choker, a similar charm dangled from my choker as from his necklace. 'Odd.' I thought as I continued to study the boy. I felt my eyes wander to the oversized key that was leaning against the wall next to the bed. The boy was holding onto it when he was collapsed on the floor in front of Leon.

I was about to ask Yuffie what it was, but the boy stirred slightly, and I immediately got up, and leaned over him, seeing his eyes twitch slightly before slowly opening them, "Kairi?!

"Kairi? Who's that?" I asked and he jolted up, scrambling away from me.

"I think you gave him a concussion or somethin', Squall. Didn't you say you went easy on him?"

"My name is Leon." Leon glared at Yuffie and she shrugged, probably ignoring him completely.

"Um, who are you guys?" The boy squeaked.

Yuffie was the first to speak, placing a hand on her hip whiel the other pointed to herself, a look of arrogance on her face, "I'm the _great _ninja Yuffie!"

"Jaci." I said monotonously.

"Leon."

"I'm Sora." His eyes wandered over to the Keyblade, as did Leon's who wasted no time to explain.

"The Keyblade, we had to get it away from you to shake of those creatures."

"It turns out that's how they were tracking you!" Yuffie jumped in.

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it won't work for long." He walked over to the Keyblade, picking it up, "Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." The Keyblade disappeared from his grasp and reappeared in Sora's hands, "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

I coughed slightly, raising my hand as if I were asking a question in school, "Yeah, I have a question. What exactly is going on?"

"Yeah! Why don't you start making sense?!" I glanced at Sora, his deep blue eyes were clouded with confusion.

"There are many worlds out there besides your own and this town." Leon started.

"They're supposed to be a secret, and they were because they've never been connected. Until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed." Yuffie began to explain.

"Heartless?" Sora and I echoed together.

"The ones who attacked you."

"Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts-that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart." Leon said and my gaze was focused on the floor. Heartless, huh? They're the ones that took everything away from me. My eyebrows furrowed in anger and my hands were clenched together.

"Hey," Yuffie said to Sora, "Have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

"Ansem?"

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."

"Can we see it?" I asked.

"Its pages were scattered everywhere."

"Scattered?"

"There's too many worlds." I nodded in understanding.

"And what's this Keyblade thing about?" I queried, prodding the Keyblade with my finger.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after it, no matter what." Leon explained.

"Well, I didn't ask for this." Sora argued, his hands clenching around the Keyblade.

Yuffie turned to Sora, "The Keyblade chooses its master, and it chose you."

"So tough luck." Leon shrugged.

"How did this all happen?" Sora mumbled, "I remember being in my room…" His eyes widened in shock, "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku?! Kairi…"

"You know what? I really don't know." I glared at Leon, he could be a little more sympathetic to Sora's situation. I wanted to know what happened to my world. Where was my family? My friends? "Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare?"

"To fight for your life. Are you ready?"

Sora's eyes shone with confidence as he hopped up from the ground, head bobbing in a reassuring nod, "I'm ready!"

Leon turned to me, "What about you?"

I sighed, "Eh, why not."

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be here by now with the other visitors." We all turned towards the door, but a light rumble sounded from the other side of the room and out of a dark swirl of black and purple a Heartless adorning clanky armor emerged.

"Leon!"

"Yuffie, go!" Yuffie followed his order, running out of the door, where a woman in a light pink dress was just about to walk in, "Jaci, you go with them."

"But-"

"Go!" Hesitantly, I nodded, running after Yuffie and the other woman.

"Yuffie!" I called out, and her head twisted slightly, "Are they going to be alright?"

"They'll be fine." She reassured me, but I didn't believe her. I skidded to a stop, my old worn out trainers squeaking slightly on the damp brick ground.

"I'm going to help." I turned on my heel, ignoring Yuffie's protests as I sprinted towards the alleyway where Sora and Leon disappeared in. When I turned the corner, I saw Sora having trouble with a few Heartless, not even noticing one sneaking up behind him, "Sora! Duck!" I quickly took my bat out from the case on my back, swinging at the Heartless as Sora ducked. My bat glowed a brilliant shade of gold as I whacked the Heartless right in the face, paying no mind to the shine, I whipped around, slashing at another one.

Sora turned towards me, "Thanks a lo-" He paused, staring at my bat in my right hand, "Whoa! Nice sword!"

"Sword?" I immediately followed his gaze, "Holy crap!" My bat had turned into a freakin' sword! "Things keep getting weirder and weirder." I mumbled to myself, examining the sword in my hand; the blade was a gleaming silver, I held it up to my face, seeing my reflection clearly. Intricate carvings adorned the blade. The hilt was a golden yellow, silver designs were on the grip, and hanging off of the end was a keychain with a charm similar to the one on Sora's Keyblade.

"Ah, Jaci, c'mon! We gotta catch up with Leon!" I nodded, following after Sora, slicing our way through the Heartless. We ran through a pair of doors, the sign above it reading **Third District**, before we could even make it two feet into the district, I heard voices above us.

I looked up, "Duck?!"

"What?!" Sora ducked, only to be crushed by the weight of two bodies falling on top of him as well as myself.

"Ow."

"The key!"

I groaned, "Get off."

As the two creatures scrambled off of Sora and I, a rumble was heard, and walls began to sprout up from the ground, blocking us in.

"What's going on?" I asked, as the sky flashed slightly, a large round object coming barreling to the ground, other objects began attaching to it, forming an enormous heartless.

"Not again…" Sora and I groaned, while the large dog-like creature blocked a blow from the Heartless with his shield.

"C'mon, we gotta beat this guy together!" The duck exclaimed, oh good golly, we're doing this teamwork crap aren't we?

______

"You were looking for me?" Sora asked the two creatures who had helped us defeat the Heartless.

I glanced at my bat which had returned to normal, glistened a dull silver in the dim street lights. It turned back to normal right after the battle and I can't get it to transform back into a sword. Sighing, I placed it back into the case on my back.

"They were seeking the bearer of the Keyblade." Leon told Sora.

"So you wanna go with us? We'll be travelin' to different worlds aboard our ship!" The duck asked, smiling slightly.

"… And Riku and Kairi'll…" Sora muttered.

"You'll find them!" The duck promised.

"Really?" The dog asked and the duck grabbed him by the ear, pulling the dog down to his level and murmured something to him.

"Sora, go with them." Sora turned to look at Leon, "They'll help you find your friends."

"You think so?"

I glanced away from everyone, they obviously didn't want me to go with them. I'd probably just slow them down anyway, I can't even control my bat's transformations, how was I supposed to help them?

"I'll go," Sora confirmed, "But Jaci has to come too!" He looked at me and smiled, causing my lips to turn up slightly.

"Okay!" The dog said quickly, before the duck could protest.

"But!" The duck quickly said, "We can't let you on the ship as you are." He shook his finger at Sora and I, "No sad faces are allowed. Smile! This ship runs on happy faces!"

"Smiles, huh? Like this?!" Sora got a big goofy grin on his face, they began laughing loudly at his expression, my lips twitching into a tight smile, a small chuckle erupted from the back of my throat.

"Donald." The duck held his hand out, introducing himself.

"I'm Goofy!" He held his hand out also, putting it on top of Donald's.

"I'm Sora." He put his hand ontop of theirs and they all looked at me expectantly.

"Jaci." I placed my hand ontop of theirs.

"All for one, one for all!" Goofy cheered.

"Hey Jaci!" Yuffie called out to me and I turned to her, "I think you need new clothes."

I glanced down at my attire, my shorts were ripped worse than before, almost falling apart and my baseball jersey had the worst of it. There were so many tears in it that I'm surprised it was still in one piece. My sneakers were work out and there were a few holes in them, the only thing that seemed unscathed was my lucky baseball cap. I laughed nervously, "You got any clothing stores around here?"

Yuffie grinned at Aerith, both of them grabbing me by my upper arms dragging me in some random direction, 'Oh god what did I get myself into?'

**Meanwhile**

"That little squirt took down the Heartless! Who would've known?!"

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own." Another voice echoed in the darkness.

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough." A more malicious feminine voice sounded.

"And those two are the king's lackeys, and that girl! They're all a bilge rats by the look of them." A different voice spoke up.

"You're no prize yourself." Deep laughter sounded after the comment, followed by a 'Shut up!'

"Enough." Silence overcame the room as a woman's voice was heard, "The Keyblade has chosen him, and the girl," Even through the darkness you could see the menacing smile that came across the woman's face, "She's what we've been looking for; the door." Slight gasps were heard as the woman continued talking, "Will they conquer the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow them? Either way, they're both quite useful."

**Back In Traverse Town**

"Yuffie, my arm doesn't twist that way!"

"Stop being a baby, Jaci!"

"Ah, Yuffie, I think you should be more gentle with her, you really might break her arm."

Outside of the store stood Sora, Donald, Goofy and Leon, who had somewhat disturbed looks on their faces, "Um, maybe we should go get some supplies."

"Yeah, supplies."

"Supplies! Right!"

"See ya Leon!" The trio quickly waved to Leon, leaving him behind to deal with the three girls.

"Bastards." Leon mumbled, leaning against the brick wall of the store, ignoring my screams of agony.

____

"Hey guys." I groaned, rubbing my arm slightly, walking towards my traveling partners in my new duds. My new clothes consisted of a bright orange jersey with darker orange borders, a forest green half-jacket with short sleeves and a furry hood, dark jean shorts that came just above my knees and sneakers that went just below my knees. Overall, I think I looked pretty snazzy.

"Your new clothes are nice!" Sora complimented.

"Eh, thanks. Did you guys get everything we needed?"

"Yup, let's go!" Sora said, marching towards where Donald and Goofy's ship should be.

"This is gonna be an interesting journey." I muttered to myself, following after him. My mind wandering off to the people I had left behind in my world, if I still had a world that is.


	3. Queen of Hearts

_Second chapter :D_

We had boarded the 'Gummi Ship', as Donald had called it, and after taking two steps into it, Sora had already managed to cause trouble. The two chipmunks, who were the ships mechanics, had scolded him for not taking off his shoes when entering. Yes, you read that right. Chipmunks. I'm beginning to think this is all just one really bad trip, and I don't mean vacation wise.

_______

We had arrived at the first world, which oddly enough, reminded me of a pin cushion; a big, red pin cushion.

"We have arrived!" Donald announced, as if we had been flying for hours and hours, when we were actually only driving for a few minutes.

"Eh? Already?" Sora asked, taking time from his star scoping to look at Donald.

"What's this world called?" I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt. Pressing my face against one of the windows, I tried getting a better look at the world.

"Wonderland!"

Staring blankly at the new-found world, I shrugged slightly, "Interesting."

"I can hardly wait!" Sora exclaimed, and I swear I saw sparkles erupt around him.

"Don't just jump the airlock though. That's a bit dangerous." Donald then proceeded to demonstrate the 'proper' way to exit the Gummi ship, although I don't think the part where we FALL into a seemingly endless abyss was part of the demonstration.

So here we are, falling down and down and down, further and further down into oblivion. Various furniture and appliances were floating down with us ignoring the laws of gravity; I had landed on an old rocking chair, which swayed a few times before sending me soaring, straight into Sora.

I mumbled an inaudible apology, eyes averting downward towards the darkness, he simply grinned, continuing to stare in awe at everything around him. The hole seemed limitless at first, but the lower we went, the more visibly we could see the end; a checkered floor of sorts.

Goofy, Donald and Sora landed before I did, only cushioning my landing; revenge for landing on me back in Traverse Town.

"Ahyuk! Sometimes it's like fallin' down is all we ever do." Goofy noted, grinning like an idiot.

"Jaci get off." Sora groaned, and I quickly got off of him, helping him up afterward. As Donald was about to get up, a small white rabbit bounced off of his head.

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!" It called out, "No time to say hello goodbye, I'm late I'm late I'm late!" He pulled out a golden watch from his coat, "The Queen she'll have me beheaded, as sure as ferrets are ferrets!"

Sora, Goofy and I could do nothing but stare blankly at the scene before us, "What was that?"

Donald, however, was a completely different story and I swore I heard him growl as he stood up, "Let's follow!"

"Oh dear, oh dear! Haven't the time to make it at a run, much less a walk!" The rabbit, continued running, us trailing behind, rather pathetically at that.

"Wait, I said!" Donald seemed all fired up, "Stupid rabbit." He grumbled.

We turned the corner, coming to a small room with a bed in one corner, the rabbit was no where to be found.

"Huh?"

"Pulled a fast one on us, he did." Goofy stated, while Donald scoped the room.

"Wonder where he went?" I looked around me, for any sign of the white rabbit.

"AH!" Sora screamed.

"What?" I asked, seriously, did he have to scream?

He pointed to the floor, where a tiny rabbit was running across the checkered floor, "He's bite-sized." I stated as he disappeared through a small door across the room.

"How'd he get so small?" Sora questioned, "Look at how tiny this door is!"

"I beg your pardon, but it isn't that I'm tiny. You're simply too large."

"EEEK!" Sora shrieked, jumping away from the door.

"Okay, I've accepted the fact that a duck, a dog and a rabbit can talk, but c'mon, A DOOR?!" I groaned, things were getting a little too eccentric for me. In my world, the closest I've come to a talking animal was my aunt's parrot and all he said were words that should never be repeated.

"Needn't be so loud, if you wish to pass, simply ingest the contents of that bottle on the table there, and do hurry up about it." The doorknob squinted his eyes, "Haven't got all day, you see? I've sleep to catch up on."

Donald and Goofy seemed astonished by the talking doorknob and tried to make conversation with it, while Sora and I went over to inspect the bottle he had mentioned, "What if it's poison?"

"Who cares, drink it."

"You go first!"

"What are you? A baby?" I snorted, "You go first."

"B-but…"

"Be a man Sora!" I urged on as he pressed the bottle to his lips, sipping a bit and he shrunk to about the size of my pinky. I grabbed the bottle before it tipped over onto mini-Sora, taking a sip, leaving enough for both Goofy and Donald.

I examined myself, making sure everything was intact, "See, it wasn't poison."

"THIS IS SO UNREAL!" Sora looked charged up, "It's just like they say! The worlds beyond really are filled with mysterious things and stuff!"

"Ain't supposed to be this mysterious, I don't think." Donald commented, walking to us, annoyance spreading across his face.

We went to open the door, only to have the Doorknob sleeping soundly, "Hey!" I called out; no response.

"C'mon! Open up!"

"Over here guys!" Goofy waved us over, pointing to the hole big enough for us to fit through that near the bed, "We can get in through this hole, prolly." Oh yes, let's go through a creepy, dark hole in a world which we know nothing about except for the fact that a doorknob can talk! Brilliant idea Goofy.

Reluctantly, I followed Sora, Donald and Goofy through the hole. The further we crawled into the hole, the clearer and clearer we could hear trumpets play, until we were at the end of the tunnel, a gorgeous garden full of red roses met our sights.

"Court is now in session!"

A young blonde girl stood in front of a rather… large and ugly woman, "The girl is the culprit, there's no doubt about it." The woman fanned herself with an intricately designed fan, "And the reason is, because I say so that's why!"

"That's so unfair!" The blonde defended herself, "I've done absolutely nothing wrong! I don't know whether or not it's true that you're a queen, but I've never seen anyone so selfish and mean!"

"Little girl," The 'Queen' started, "Are you intentionally attempting to anger me?"

"Any idea what's going on?" I whispered to Sora who shook his head in confusion.

"I FIND THE DEFENDANT ALICE, GUILTY AS CHARGED!"

"How can you…" Alice began to plead.

"YOU ARE GUILTY OF THEFT ATTEMPTED UPON THE HEART OF QUEEN OF HEARTS!"

"Hmm, a heart?" I mumbled to myself.

"Hey, guys I think we she help her out." Sora suggested.

"Yeah, but, if we meddle in the affairs of this world."

"Against the rules, that is." Goofy finished.

"But…"

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

"No no! Oh please!" The girl invoked, as the card soldiers grabbed her.

"Hold it right there!"

"Oh, jeez." Donald and I slapped our hands over our faces as Sora ran to help the girl.

"And what manner of creature are you, scum?!" The queen screeched, "You dare interfere in the proceedings of his court?! Mannerless, the lot of you!"

"Excuse me, but we know the real culprit is!"

"Ahyuk, it was the Heartle-" Donald and I slammed our hands onto Goofy's mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence.

"Hogwash! You can't possibly know what you're talkin' of, lad." The Queen spoke, "You've any evidence to 'sport the defense?"

"Um…"

"We're working on that!" I said, coming to Sora's defense.

"Very well," I felt someone grab me by my arms, "I shall humor your claim."

"Ah, Jaci!" Sora screamed as I was thrown into the cage along with the little girl, Alice.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence! I shall keep this girl to ensure you'll come back. Fail and it's off with all of your heads! Until you conclude your investigations, the court is adjourned!" She banged the gavel.

"You've got nothing to worry 'bout miss! Just you wait! We'll capture the real culprit for you!" Sora screamed to Alice who was looking out of the cage down at them, "I'm sorry you got dragged into this Jaci!"

"No problem." I called out lazily leaning my back against the cage's bars.

"There does in yonder wood reside the Cheshire cat. Do seek and ask him where he thinks this proof is at. Please be careful, now!" Alice cried out to Sora.

They left to go find the evidence that would set both Alice and I free, leaving me here… in a cage… with an awkward silence… alongside a little blonde girl who would not stop staring at me. It was going to be a long wait.

_______

I peeked out of the cage as I heard a card soldier scream in surprise; a soldier heartless had emerged from the forest, Sora, Donald and Goofy following after it.

While the Queen and Sora were yelling at each other, I heard the cage door rattle open, a boy with brilliant aqua colored eyes quickly grabbed Alice, and looked at me.

"Who-"

He smirked, vanishing along with Alice, before I could even finish my question and in all of the commotion no one even noticed his presence or that Alice was gone.

I paused for a slight second, thoroughly confused before leaping out of the cage, immediately running to help Sora fight off the Card Soldiers. I had managed to knock a few out with my trusty bat, which still, by the way, has yet to transform again.

"BY JOVE, SHE'S GONE! ALICE HAS VANISHED!" The Queen shrieked, "STAND TO ATTENTION, MEN! THE DEFENDANT HAS ESCAPED CUSTODY, AND REMAINS AT LARGE!" The cards almost instantly stopped fighting with us, standing four lines according to their suit, "I ORDER THAT AN OPEN BOUNTY BE OFFERED FOR HER IMMEDIATE RECAPTURE!"

Why does she have to yell everything?

______

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I were sent out to find Alice, or else our heads would be chopped off. I think I'd prefer my head being chopped off to running around in a forest looking for someone who definitely wasn't here anymore.

"That Queen lady's totally nutsoid!" Donald jeered, "The whole kidnapping plot reeks of Heartless involvement."

"All we've seen them do is attack people." I commented, "Are they really smart enough to be able to pull something like this off?"

"Well I got a hunch that the Heartless aren't simply acting at random." We all stared at Donald intently, "Seems to me that something might be manipulating them… something evil."

"Alas, having found the evidence you sough, you now seek the defendant you lost? Poor Alice…" A purple striped cat swung down from a tree branch by his tail, "Oh hello, you must be new to group." His eyes wondered to me, "I'm the Cheshire cat!"

"Uh, yeah have you seen her at all?"

"Negative."

"QUIT TALKIN' IN CIRCLES!" My three companions exclaimed, and I just stared at them blankly, "Guys, negative means no."

"Oh…" I felt a headache, the product of their stupidity, forming at the back of my head.

"The cat, the culprit and the answer do all in darkness lie, I shall show what shadows lurk in the heart of the world…"

He led us to the room where we started out in, the room with the doorknob, "Here, here!" It called out.

"Where?"

"Patience, patience." His claw emitted a flame, "Have you heard?" A light on the nearby wall lit up, "Where there is the bright of flame, there is the darkest of shadows." A large Heartless appeared behind the Cheshire cat, "Have you prepared your hearts for the worst?" The Heartless' paper-like arms began spinning wildly, flaming clubs spurting fire as it spun around, "If not, too bad!"

"You lied to us?!" My friends screamed at the grinning cat.

"I lie you say? Nay, I need not. The Cheshire cat takes heart in aiding those in need."

While he was talking to us, the Heartless took the opportunity to strike us with the flaming club, "Ow!" I screeched, running away from the Heartless, patting my burning pant leg furiously, trying to put out the flame.

"And it seems you're in dire need of assistance." The cat pointed out, the grin never leaving his face, "Rather a miracle you've made it this far." Out of his finger shot snowflakes and they fell down on Sora and I, "It is but a pittance, but I shall grant you what strength you lack."

"HOT!" Donald barked.

"Donald!" Sora quickly pointed his Keyblade at Donald, a beam of snowflakes coming out of it, putting out the fire on Donald's… tail feather?

"Sora?! What was that?" Donald asked in astonishment.

"Ahyuk, put mine out too, could'ja?!" I quickly pointed my bat at Goofy's backside, a small sprinkle of snowflakes easily put out the fire.

"You're the one they call 'The Bearer of the Key'." The cat smiled and his eyes floated to me, "And you're 'The Door' everybody's up in arms for, it'd be a true pity if you didn't know how to use magic wouldn't it?"

'The Door? What the hell is 'The Door'? Some kind of code name or something?' I thought to myself, trying to figure out what the hell this mad cat was talking about.

"Magic?" Sora's Keyblade began glowing a light blue, while my bat did the same, we stared at the objects that were in our hands with wonder.

"GUYS LOOKOU-" A huge flame came down on all of us.

I coughed slightly, producing black smoke, "I'm definitely gonna get lung cancer now." I hacked some more as Sora blasted the Heartless with Blizzard, or at least tried to.

"Urgh!" Sora growled as the Heartless simply slapped the snowflakes away, "This isn't doing anything to him!"

"Sora!" I called out to him as I rolled away from an oncoming blow, "You've got to focus!"

"What?" He yelled, dodging a blow, "What do you mean focus?!"

"Focus your heart, you idiot!"

His eyes widened in realization and his Keyblade began to glow again. As the Heartless went to slam Sora with another attack Sora pointed his Keyblade at it, "BLIZZARD!"

The frozen Heartless fell over, smashing into a million pieces, then, a light pink heart floated up to the sky, just like what had happened with the Heartless we battled in Traverse Town.

"Sweet." The Cheshire cat said, for once the grin was not etched into his face.

"Good job Sora!" Donald and Goofy tackled him with a hug, while I stood off to the side, tapping my bat against the floor, shaking off the ashes from it.

"What is this racket?" The familiar voice of the Doorknob asked, "Do humor me a bit and tone down the brawl, could you? A doorknob can't be getting any rest around here, he can't…"

"What's with the attitude there!" Donald hissed, "We were just…" Before Donald could finish his sentence, a glow came from the Doorknob, a keyhole showing as he yawned. Sora's Keyblade shot up from Sora's grip, pointing at the keyhole as a bright light formed at the end, shooting straight into the keyhole. A light clicking noise could be heard as the Doorknob stopped yawning.

"I simply wish to sleep."

"What was that?" I asked blatantly as Sora stared in bewilderment at the oversized key in his possession.

"Sounded sorta like a 'click' of somethin' being locked." Sora and I let out an 'oh' to Donald's statement and our attention turned towards the ground as something rolled near Goofy's feet.

"Ahyuk, it's a Gummi block!" Goofy exclaimed.

"What's that?"

"It's a mechanical part from another Gummi ship, kinda like the one we use." Donald said informing Sora and I.

"Superb performance, boy." The cat clapped, "That's a show of innate talent that display. Your powers really do bloom true, if I do say." He grinned, his disembodied feet appearing beside him, "Keep it up and you'll be a florist some day."

"The Cheshire cat," Sora glared up at him, "Who's side are you…"

"Alice is neither here nor there, or available for any occasion." The cat cut him off, "She passed from this world to where I cannot speak. Borne off by shadows, she has fallen to the darkness of obscurity."

**Meanwhile**

"That wretched cat…" A voice said, as they watched the scene from the darkness.

"He's got a loose tongue, he has."

"By the kingdom, I do swear… He should have been disposed of the very moment he refused our good will."

"A bit too late for that, big man." Another voice told the other.

"We need not concern ourselves upon these trivial matters." A snaky voice said, "Of greater import is the progress of those two infidel children. The boy has come across this keyhole far earlier than we previously projected. Time is of the essence."

"Worry not, friends." A woman appeared from the darkness, "The keyholes are obscured enough that he shan't discover them with any ease. In the mean time," A light shone on poor Alice, as she looked around confused, "The pieces we seek have begun to assemble upon the board."

**On The Gummi Ship**

Sora sighed, "Didn't find anyone after all." I stared at him as he looked out the window at the distancing world, "Not only did Alice go bye-bye on us, we didn't get anywhere with the King either. I wonder where Riku and Kairi are?"

I smiled slightly as Goofy pulled the sides of Sora's mouth into a smile, "Ahyuk! We'll find them, Sora!"

"There are as many worlds as there are stars." Donald said.

"And if you wanna live to search 'em all, you'd better cheer up this instant! Your depression's depleting our power supplies." Chip said, prodding Sora's cheek with a stick to get him to smile.

"Smile! Think happy thoughts!" Dale said, pulling at Sora's cheek as well.

"Guess you're right." Sora grinned, "No use crying when there's still work to be done! So where to captain?! Just point the way and I'll step on the gas!"

"Ack! No stop, Sora!!!"

'Oh good golly Miss Molly.' I thought as I clenched my seat, my knuckles turning white, 'Please don't crash, please don't crash.' I squinted my eyes shut as Donald continued screaming at Sora, "Please don't crash!" I screamed as the ship went flying down towards a familiar planet.


	4. Darkness of the Heart

**Author's Note:** _It's been so long! Enjoy the next chapter, I might have another one up in a week or so._**  
**

"Are you blind? You crashed us into a meteorite! What is wrong with you?" I think Donald's screeches could be heard worlds away as he continued to rip Sora a new asshole letting the spiky haired boy know that he would never touch the controls again.

As we entered Traverse Town, we saw Yuffie standing in front of us, a blank stare on her face as she watched us, "Err, we're back." I announced.

"Um, okie dokie." She nodded awkwardly, gesturing for us to follow her.

"There's something we wanted to ask Leon, know where he is Yuffie?"

She placed her hand under her chin in a thinking position, "Hmm… Dunno for sure, but I'd say he's down in the waterways, training with his gun blade again. You guys can go take a look if you want."

"Waterways?" I mumbled, 'The hell is a waterway?'

* * *

"This is just disgusting." I whined as we waded through the _sewers,_ trying to reach Leon.

"Didn't think there'd be a cave like this in the city sewers."

"Who'd want one?" I grumbled.

We found Leon practicing his swings with his gun blade on a patch of rock at the end of the sewer system, "So, you found the keyhole?" He asked us, wiping his neck with a towel as he sat down across from us.

"Yup, the Keyblade started glowing all of a sudden and there was a sorta clinky sound, like a lock turning or something." Sora explained to him and I had to hold back the snort at Sora's description; 'clinky sound', oh Sora, you're ever the rhetoric.

"Ansem wrote of such a thing in his report. It said that in every world amongst the stars there is a somewhere a keyhole obscured… beyond each lies the 'heart' of the world to which it belongs."

"The 'heart' of the world?" I asked, munching on a rice ball.

"There exists under the skies no heart that escapes the taint of darkness. The heartless do in that taint reside, progressing in the twilight of innocence to manifest and consume the hearts of all, such is their nature and desire. Those worlds claimed at heart by the infestation of the heartless are to us lost and enveloped and shattered in the black of night."

"So in other words, the heartless corrupt the heart of the world until it breaks?" I asked.

"Precisely." He looked at Sora, "And that, Sora, is the reason you must wield the Keyblade. The hearts of the remaining worlds must be locked from contamination. As the one who was chosen by the Keyblade, only you can complete this task."

The clanking of glass could be heard along with footsteps from the stairway that I just noticed, "Don't worry, you'll be fine." Aerith told the boy as she appeared in the doorway.

'You mean we didn't have to go through the sewers to get down here?' I thought as I stared hatefully at the stairway that Yuffie had never bothered to tell us was there.

"I'm not sure I can…" Sora admitted, eyes downcast.

"Trust me, seeing other worlds will serve you well, hence, I'm confident you will succeed, Sora." Aerith reassured him.

"If I haven't introduced you yet, this is Aerith."

"I've prepared some barley tea for you all. I hope you enjoy."

"Thanks." Sora smiled at her, taking a cup from her after Leon declined it.

She offered me some, but I took a rain check, not trusting the brown liquid one bit, "I've requested that Cid repair your Gummi ship for you, by the way, he should be finishing up soon."

"Oh!" I took a small object out of my pouch, "We found this Gummi block, but it isn't like any others, do you know what it does?"

"Can't help you there, ask Cid, he should know." Leon replied.

"We'll go ahead and do that, thanks!" Sora said, snatching the Gummi block from me and I glared at him, "Let's get going!"

"Before you go, take this." Leon threw a green stone towards Sora, who barely caught it, "Hold onto it."

"How do you use it?"

Leon simply shrugged; a lot of help he is.

* * *

"You've got to be kiddin' me. Y'all got the collective brain cells of a brick if ya ain't got no clue what a navigation block is. This thingamajig here upgrades your coordinate database for locations in known interspace… let's ya go places where no man's gone before and all that jazz." Cid explained, looking down at us incredulously, "In any case, it can't hurt to install it. Not like it'll crash your system or anything."

"You'll put it in for us then?" I asked.

"Told ya before, need any help and I'll lend ya some muscle," He grinned, "I ain't never broken a promise before, bad business that is." He turned away from us, shuffling through the drawer before turning back towards us a book in hand, "Now on to the matter of your payment, there's a delivery job I need you kids to run for me."

"Aw~" Sora whined.

"Ever heard of the principle of equivalent exchange, kid?"

"Gotcha gramps." Sora muttered meekly, backing away.

"Don't piss me off." He handed the book to me, "Just shut your trap and deliver the goods."

"Um, okay." I grabbed the book hesitantly, only to have Sora rip it from my grasp.

"What is this?" Goofy asked, examining the book.

"Some sort of diary maybe?"

"NO!" Cid growled, "Just bring it to that old house on the outskirts of District Three, I'm countin' on you to get it there!"

* * *

"Hello?" Sora opened the flame marked door, "Weird it's not even locked."

We peered inside the doorway, it was pretty dark, and we discovered that it was the doorway to the house, rather the house was inside the doorway. Odd as it may sound, but true.

"Hello? We're here to make a delivery!" There was no reply and we continued to look around.

"Huh? Kairi?"

"What are you talking about Sora?" I asked, only for a huge hole to be blasted in the wall just behind us.

"Nearly missed my landing I did!" A rather old man with a long white beard came through the hole, wearing a dark blue robe and a pointing hat, carrying a bag. He turned his attention to us, "Well, well, you've arrived sooner than expected." I handed the man the book and he marveled at it, "My! The binding's almost as good as new! Highwind's gotten to be rather proficient at book restoration hasn't he?" He motioned for us to sit down at the table on the platform in the middle of the house, which we did so, "Your king requested that I grant you some assistance. My name is Merlin… as you can see; I'm a magician of sorts."

"Do you happen to know where the king is right now?" Donald asked a slight look of hope on his face.

"That unfortunately, I do not. We parted ways some time ago." He grasped his tea cup, "I do know the purpose of his travels though, there spreads as we speak a discord across all creation. Your king seeks a means by which it might be quelled, that the end of days shan't envelop us all in darkness."

We stared at the older man with worried expressions as he continued, "In any case, he asked me to provide you all a lesson in the art of magic. Mind that you pay attention, Sora."

"Eh?"

"You've done well yourself, learning to manipulate the Keyblade on instinct alone, but the reliance on instinct denies you the full capacity of the weapon, conscious control of the blade's functions is essential to your cause. You mustn't forget your dream…"

"You can come by any time… I'll help you as you need me to." The old wizard bid us a farewell, "Oh, and before you leave, if by any chance you run across the pages of this book in your travels, I do hope that you'll save them for me. Between these covers there once existed an entire world. It would be a crime to let it simply vanish into obscurity." We all nodded, waving to Merlin as we exited the cove. We also met the Fairy Godmother, who had turned the gem Leon gave us to is a summon for Sora to use, which happened to be a lion named Simba.

"Jeez, the number of things we've got to find keeps growing." I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Don't worry, we'll just get them one at a time." Donald smiled up towards me.

"Sounds like a plan." Sora winked.

**CLANK!**

A soldier heartless grabbed onto Sora from behind, "Crap!" He screeched, but as soon as it had appeared it vanished.

"Don't space out like that Sora. It's pathetic, I thought I taught you better…"

"Ah!" Sora could barely form words as he stared at the silver haired boy.

"I've been looking all over for you Sora." The boy smirked. I could feel the cockiness emanating from him.

"RIKU!" Sora screamed with glee, going over to 'Riku' pulling at his face.

"What do you think you're doing idiot?" Riku yelled at him, trying to push the brunette off of him.

"It's really you Riku!"

Meanwhile, Donald, Goofy and I stood on the sidelines, watching the entire scene, "You guys feel left out too?" I asked and they nodded in agreement.

"So Kairi isn't with you, huh?" Riku asked.

"No," Sora sighed, "I thought she was with you."

"Your face will stay like that if you do that long enough, you know?" Riku commented, "Just look on the bright side, we've finally gotten to the outside world. We're free to go wherever we want, and there isn't anybody stopping us." I studied Riku's face, he looked familiar, that much was sure, but where have I seen him before? "I'm sure we'll find Kairi in no time, don't worry, just leave everything to me; with me around you won't…" I got nothing. Damn my awful memory.

A Heartless leapt at Riku from behind, but before it could even lay a claw on him, Sora jumped into action, slicing the Heartless, "Leave it to who?"

"Sora… when did you-"

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help." He motioned to us and it seems Riku had only now noticed us.

"Who are they?"

"Ahem. My name is-" Donald tried to introduce himself, but was cut off by Sora, "We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you."

"Really?" I'm not sure if I'm the only one who noticed, but Riku's face turned a bit sour, "Well what do you know? I never would have guessed."

Goofy jumped in, "Oh and guess what? Sora's the Keyblade master. Who would've thought it?"

"What's that mean?" Sora said defensively.

Riku held up the Keyblade, "So this is called a Keyblade?" I blinked, when did he get that?

"Hey, give it back!"

"Catch!" Riku tossed the Keyblade to him, only for it to disappear in a puff of smoke, and then reappear in Sora's hands.

"Okay, so you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, he can't come!" Donald argued.

"What?"

"Forget it!"

"Oh, come on! He's my friend!" By this time Riku had made his exit and Goofy informed them.

"Riku? Nice going! Oh well, at least he's okay and who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."

"Yeah." I nodded, 'Hopefully we'll find _him _too.' I thought, looking down at the ground sadly.

"You coming Jaci?" Sora asked.

My head shot up, "I'll be right there." I assured him.

He nodded, turning to catch up with Goofy and Donald as they made their way to the house up the stairway, leaving me in the square of District Three.

I exhaled slowly, leaning against the wall, clutching the orange tear-drop necklace that was around my neck, "Where are you?" I whispered.

The sound of two people talking caught my attention and my hand unwrapped itself from the necklace as I went silent. It sounded like Riku and a woman. I couldn't make out what they were talking about, but I heard Sora's name as well as my own. Looking around, I saw no one, yet it sounded like they were right around the corner. I backed up away from the wall, looking on the ledge of the building, seeing the silver-haired boy standing there, no one near him.

"Riku?" I called up and he stared down at me.

"You…"

My eyes narrowed, not liking the tone of voice he used, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hm, nothing." He turned to walk away from the ledge, but before he could vanish into the shadows of the buildings, I latched onto a pipe coming down the side of the building, heaving myself up the wall with a bit of difficulty.

He looked surprised when I landed next to him.

"We haven't been formally introduced. I'm Jaci." I held my hand out for him to shake and he looked down at him, before shaking it, saying his name as well.

"Why aren't you with Sora?" He nearly spat Sora's name and I felt my hands clench into fists.

"I needed some time alone." I replied.

"What? Are you sick of him already?"

My eyebrows furrowed, "What's your problem?"

He didn't answer me and my lips formed a thin line. I'll be the first to admit I'm quick to anger, but for some reason his comment about Sora ticked me off more than it usually would, especially since he was one of Sora's best friends.

"I'm not sure if you realize how much of a douche you're acting like right now-" A shock look came over his face when I uttered the word 'douche', "-but Sora's been looking for you and Kairi this whole time. The poor kid feels so guilty about not being able to find you or Kairi. The only reason he even started to travel with Donald, Goofy and I, is for the chance to find you two and when you finally do show up, you act as though you hate him or something!" I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier as I continued, "Aren't you his best friend? Shouldn't you want to help him?"

He frowned, "No, he's got you and those other two. He doesn't need me."

My lips pursed as my gaze narrowed even more, "He will always need you. No matter what you may think." I didn't give him a chance to answer me because within a few seconds I was back in the District Square heading towards the house Donald, Goofy and Sora had gone to.

As soon as I walked in I felt a wave of depression hit me, "Eh, kinda gloomy in here isn't it?"

Leon turned to me, and began explaining why. Apparently a witch named Maleficent was in town, and she was the cause of their world being swallowed by darkness… which meant, she was the reason my world was destroyed.

"Well then, we'll just have to kick her ass won't we?" Sora cheered at my proposition and I grinned.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	5. Two Sides of a Heart

Chapter Four; **Two Sides of a Heart**

"Anyway! Your Gummi ship is in abso-effin-lutely perfect condition!" Cid boasted before promptly kicking us out of the house and I mean he _literally _kicked us out of the house, "Go get 'em tiger!" Before we could walk away, I heard him call my name, "I actually have a job for you!"

The old man scratched the back of his head sheepishly as I glared at him, "You couldn't have said that before you kicked me out?"

"Sorry 'bout that, but I need you to take the extra Gummi ship and deliver a package for me." He explained handing me a rather large package.

"Um, yeah, this is all great in theory, but uh, I don't know how to fly a Gummi ship."

Cid laughed, "Don't worry yer pretty little head about a thing; I've got a nifty little invention that allows me to control the Gummi ship's movements without even having to be on it." He was really too proud of himself.

"Is that safe?" I asked unsurely.

"'Course it is!" He ushered me away from Sora, Donald and Goofy who were giving me pitiful looks, leading me to the world exit where his special Gummi ship awaited, "Now just climb aboard and leave the rest to me!"

"Okay…"

I really hope I don't die.

* * *

As I hopped off the Gummi ship, package in hand, the bright sun and the smell of the ocean greeted me. I glanced around, 'Cid said the guy I was supposed to deliver the package to would meet me here.'

"Hello there little girl!" My eyes widened as a huge creature appeared from the luscious green forest of trees.

"Um, hello!" I squeaked, backing up slightly.

"You are the one Cid sent to deliver the package, correct?"

I nodded hastily, reaching out to give the package to the dark purple creature, who took went to grab it with his sausage-like fingers, but was intercepted by a dark blue blur and before I could even blink the package was gone, as well as the blue blur.

"Um… what was that?" I asked.

The large purple creature let out a frustrated sigh, mumbling in some foreign language, before turning to me, "I'm Jumba Jookiba, nice to meet you little girl." He held his hand out for me to shake, which I did.

"Jaci." I averted my vision, "So what was that?" I asked, referring to whatever it was that stole the package.

"Experiment Six-Two-Six." He answered blankly and began to walk away, gesturing for me to follow. I don't think he was too happy about Experiment Six-Two-Six stealing his package.

"Experiment?" Why were things on other worlds so weird? "Like a science experiment?"

"I believe that is what I'm referring to."

"Oh boy, what did I get myself into…" I mumbled, smacking myself in the forehead while following Jumba.

* * *

I found myself staring into the black eyes of the little abomination known as Experiment Six-Two-Six a.k.a. Stitch, "Give it."

"No." He grumbled, holding the case that held my baseball bat closer, "Is Stitch's."

"No, is Jaci's. Give it."

This had been going on for over an hour. After Jumba and I had found the little blue dog-like creature, we had managed to get back the package that I was supposed to deliver to Jumba, but Stitch had managed to grab my bat in the fuss. Little bastard.

I heard him suck in air, like he was going to hock a ball of spit at me, "You better not." I warned and he simply smiled up at me, before spitting at me. I ducked onto the ground, just narrowly missing the giant ball of spit that had been aimed at me, "That's disgusting! Give me that!" I ripped the case from his hands, and began hitting him over the head with it, "You," Hit, "Do," Hit, "Not," Hit, "Spit," Hit, "At," Hit, "People!" Hit, "It's rude!"

"Hey! Don't hurt Stitch!" The little Hawaiian girl known as Lilo scolded me as she came to the little bastard's rescue, "He's just a puppy!"

"That!" I pointed at the whining 'dog', "Is not a puppy!"

She gathered him up in his arms, "Yes he is!"

"I hope he spits on you." I told her as Stitch began making his saliva hang from his tongue, "And I hope you catch something!"

"He's had all of his shots!" A thoughtful look appeared across her face, "… I think."

"Damn kids and their damn pets." I grumbled, walking away from the duo, towards where I (or rather Cid) parked the Gummi ship.

I hope I never see another 'dog' again.

* * *

"So how'd it go?" Cid asked as I walked into his shop, a foul look on my face.

"Shut the hell up and drink your god damn tea." I hissed, throwing the box that Jumba had ordered me to give to Cid that contained some special tea leaves that Cid just _had _to have.

"Bad, huh?" I glared at him, giving him the answer to his question as I slammed the door to his shop behind me.

The brisk air of Traverse Town greeted me welcomingly, "Stupid old man," I looked up to the dark sky, where the stars were twinkling brightly, "I wonder how Sora and the others are doing?"

_ Jaci._

I blinked, looking around me, 'Must be hearing things.' I thought once I realized there was no one around me.

_Jaci._

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a figure disappear behind a nearby building, "Good think I'm not stupid enough to follow after a shady figure into a dark alleyway." I told myself, ignoring the curiosity that poked at the back of my head.

"Jaci."

"WHAT?"

"Err, we're back?" Sora waved with Goofy and Donald standing next to him.

"Huh? Oh, hi."

"We came to pick you up so we can go to the next world." He said as he motioned for me to follow him.

* * *

"Whoa."

"Cool gates." I nodded in agreement as we stood outside the Romanesque columns and doorway.

"This is the Olympus Coliseum." Jiminy announced and I'm ashamed to admit it but I totally forgot he was even with us, "Famous warriors from all over the multiverse gather at this stadium regularly to pit themselves against each other in a mixed martial arts tournament."

"Martial Arts Tournament!" Sora grinned.

"No." I said blankly, pushing my fist down onto his head, "We don't have time."

"C'mon, please!" He whined, following behind me as we pushed the doors open, "For just a little bit?" He asked but was promptly ignored.

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya?" A little goat man called over his shoulder not even taking the time to look back at us, "Move that pedestal over there for me." He pointed to said pedestal, which looked to have been made of marble and was definitely not going to budge for a kid as skinny as Sora.

"Sure I guess." Sora mumbled, going over to the pedestal.

"Oh, so now you're in somebody's janitorial staff?" Donald commented, giving Sora a disapproving look while Goofy and I just giggled to ourselves.

"Shut up!" Sora began pushing on the giant stone block, "This ain't so tough…."

"Sora, you're gonna pull something." I told him as he grunted, ramming against the block of marble harder.

"This is impossible!" He screamed at the goat man.

"What, Herc? Too heavy?" He turned around, a mad fury in his eyes, "Since when did you become such a weak piece of…" He stopped once he laid his sights on us, "Oh, wrong person. We're closed right now, so you'll have to come back during business hours…" He waved us away, but Sora had no intention of going anywhere.

"Uh, hi. I'm interested in entering the tournament."

"Sora!" Donald and I yelled at him.

The goat man laughed mockingly, "Hah! _You_ want to enter the tournament. You can't even move some measly marble pedestal! Listen up pipsqueak! This is a 'Heroes-Only' tournament! Heroes only!" Sora shrank back as the little man continued to yell, "You wanna compete? Show me your entry ticket, or get lost! I doubt you have one, or I would've heard." He marched over to the marble block, "Can't even move a measly pedestal… humph…" He tried pushing it, but it didn't budge, "Friggin' go home kid!"

"Yeah… I'm gonna go check this place out." I slunk away from the group, stepping over the chained off entry-way to where I believed was the arena.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sora mumbled, stalking off back towards the exit, Goofy and Donald in pursuit.

"Kid's crazy…" I mumbled as I scoped out the arena, "Eh, it's decent." I sort of expected it to be bigger.

"Who're you?" I tensed up, looking over my shoulder where a blonde-haired man stood, a large sword strapped to his back.

"Oh, I'm nobody, just passing through…" I reassured him as he stared at me curiously.

"What's that on your back?" His piercing blue eyes never left my form as I let out a hum of surprise, my lower body twisting slightly so I could see the case that was strapped to the back of my belt.

"Oh, it's just a baseball bat."

"Do you fight?"

"Eh?"

"Do you fight?"

"Not well." I mumbled, scratching my cheek, "But I guess I'm alright."

"Come on then." He motioned for me to step up to the arena.

"You serious?" He nodded, and I let out a prolonged sigh, how do I get myself in these situations, "Fine." I flipped the top of the case open, pulling out my dull silver bat, that seemed to have accumulated a lot of dings and scratches over the past few days.

"It seems a little worn out." He commented on the poor condition of my weapon of choice.

"Yeah, well when you've been fighting off as many heartless as I've been doing the past few days, it happens." I shot back, my eyes narrowing at him as he drew his sword, fixing himself into a fighting position.

"Ready?" I nodded, "Go." He charged towards me, swiping his sword down at me in a swift movement. The sound of metal clashing against metal filled the air, then again. I continued to block his lethal swings, "You're good at blocking, but what about attacking?" He backed off, allowing me the chance to go in for the attack. Slamming my bat down onto his sword, I saw my bat let off a faint glow and I tried to hid my grin.

"Your bat transformed?" He asked, his eyes widening slightly in an astonished look as he pushed against the magnificent sword that had appeared in my hands, taking the place of the dull and worn bat.

"It happens sometimes." I said, grinning widely, shoving down with an equal amount of force until he thrust me back and we continued with our little game of block and attack, until I stopped, holding a hand over my mouth as I yawned, "Okay, I quit."

He looked surprised, "What?"

"I'm bored, I quit." By now my sword had converted back into a bat and I slid it back into its case, I tried to fight another yawn that forced its way out, "And I'm tired."

I heard him sigh, "Didn't expect it to end that way." He put his sword back on his back, "Cloud." He held out his hand.

"Hm?"

"My name, it's Cloud."

"Like in the sky?" I asked as I shook his hand firmly, "That'd odd." I commented, introducing myself as well, "I'm Jaci."

"Jaci is odd as well."

"True." I sat down on the stone bleachers that surrounded the stage, "So what are you doing in this world?" I looked over at his clothes, "You're obviously not from this one."

"I'm looking for something." He mumbled softly, taking a seat next to me.

"What are you looking for?"

"My light?"

"Your light?" I looked up towards the blaring sun that stood out against the clear azure sky, "Like metaphorically?"

"Not necessarily…"

"So… you lost your light? And now you're stuck in darkness?" Seeing him nod from the corner of my eye I continued, "Heh… I guess I lost my light too."

"You did?"

My hand fiddled with the orange gem on my necklace, "Yeah… I can't seem to find him…"

"Him?"

"My friend… He's my light… I guess you could say," I tightened my grip on the trinket, "My better half."

"You'll find him." I perked up.

"You think so?"

"Yeah." My eyes met with his, "Things will work out."

"Y'know, I have a feeling you're not always this optimistic." My lips twitched up into a slight grin, "You should try taking your own advice. This light, you're talking about, you'll find it." Standing up, I dusted my shorts off, "Or who knows, maybe it'll find you." I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away, disappearing into the lobby of the coliseum.

* * *

I was currently trying to catch up on some much needed sleep on the bleachers as Sora, Donald and Goofy fought in this 'Heroes' tournament, but you know, it's hard to sleep on cold stone bleachers. Not the most comfortable thing in the world. I opened one eye, checking to see how Sora and the others were doing. He had just won his semi-final match, "Go Sora! Keep up the good work!" I cheered half-heartedly, giving him a thumbs up, which he returned with a wide grin set on his face.

"You sure you don't want to join, Jaci?" He asked, and I simply waved him off.

"No, no. I'm quite alright. I'll leave the useless fighting to you guys."

"It's not useless…" He pouted.

"Sure, sure." I mumbled as I rolled onto my side, trying to get comfortable.

Phil announced the final match, which was between Sora, Donald and Goofy and… Cloud?

Oh jeez, Sora's gonna die.

"That was too easy." Cloud murmured, his sword pointed at Sora's throat, "You're just some random kid… what the hell is Hades up to?" His eyes drifted towards Sora's keyblade that Cloud had knocked from his grip "… Ah, I see. I thought it was just a plastic toy or something, but it's actually got some weight…"

"Uh, hey…" I called out, "You might wanna, y'know, run?" Both Sora and Cloud looked behind him, where a huge three-headed dog stood, "That is a big ass dog…" The dog's middle head dipped down, scooping Cloud into its jaws, "CLOUD!"

'Oh shit, oh shit, this is not good.' I thought with my mind in panic.

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I stared in horror at the dog, not knowing what to do.

The dog let out a whine as Hercules appeared on the scene, punching the dog in the jaw, cape swishing in the wind in the old superhero cliché, "Phil! Get them out of here!" He ordered.

Didn't have to tell me twice, I grabbed hold of Sora, "Let's go."

"Careful Herc! Don't hurt yourself!" Phil called out to his star pupil.

"What the hell was that thing?" Donald asked.

"That's Cerberus, the Guardian of the Underworld." Phil told us, "Herc should be able to handle it… but then again…"

"You really think he's gonna be okay?" Donald asked.

A shocked look spread across Phil's face, "Herc!" He squeaked out. Sora grabbed hold of his Keyblade, and while I slipped my bat out of its case, "You kids aren't entering the arena, are ya?"

"I'm going to save Hercules."

"I'm going to save Cloud."

"What?" Phil screamed, "This isn't some match, this is for real!"

"I'm not afraid. You can decide if I'm hero material or not." Sora told the little goat-man as Donald and Goofy followed behind us into the arena where Hercules was fighting off Cerberus while lugging around Cloud, "Hercules!" He glanced over at us, "We'll take care of the mutt! Get out!" We ran in front of the oversized dog.

"Kids, I got two words of advice for you…" Phil called out, "ATTACK!"

"Isn't that one word?" I asked Sora, as I dodged a blow from the three-headed canine.

"He does that a lot." Sora shrugged, smacking the middle head on the nose, which was all it took for the enormous dog to collapse in a heap on the floor.

I pursed my lips, staring at the unconscious beast, "I _really_ hate dogs."

"PHIL! I BEAT CERBERUS WITH JUST ONE HIT!" Sora announced, all grins, "ISN'T IT GREAT? ISN'T IT GREAT?"

"We were there too y'know…" Donald grumbled, glaring at the overly excited Sora.

"Y-yeah… great…" Phil stuttered as Sora shook him back and forth, shouting 'I'm the man' over and over, "Well at least you got the job done, but Rule Number Five clearly states: 'Don't get cocky!' You got that? So don't get-"

"Hey I bet I can move that pedestal now!" I shook my head as Phil yelled at Sora, 'Boys are so weird.' I watched as Sora continued to push on the block, not moving it an inch, "Hey it moved! Huh?" He looked back and forth from Donald to Goofy who had helped him push it.

"Is there a rule that says we can't push it together, ahyuck?" As they pushed further, a light burst from beneath, revealing a keyhole.

"H-hey… what's that doing there?" Phil asked, as Sora's Keyblade began to glow, a light emitting from the end, piercing through the keyhole and a 'click' was heard.

I heard a groan come from behind me and I was suddenly reminded of the reason I had rushed head on into the arena to face the three-headed dog, "Ah! Cloud! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He stood up, walking out of the lobby without another word.

As we stepped out of the lobby, the sun greeted us, as well as a familiar blonde, "Huh?"

"A parting gift." Cloud tossed a block to Sora, who caught it clumsily, "Do not lose the light."

As we walked past him I waved slightly, to which he responded with a slight nod, "He sounds like a fortune cookie!" Donald complained and I couldn't help but smile and nod my head in agreement.

* * *

"Light, huh?" Sora eyed the block.

A beeping from the Gummi Ship brought me out of my thoughts, "It's Cid!" Donald announced as a button that read, 'PUSH ME!' flickered on and off.

"Yo! How's it hangin'?" Cid's face popped up on the wind shield of the Gummi Ship.

"Excuse me, can I just say one thing?" Donald asked with an angelic face.

"Sure, what?"

"I CAN'T PILOT WITH YOU POPPING OUT IN FRONT OF ME!" Donald screamed, flailing at the gaping man.

"Jeez, ya don't gotta be so mean about it." Cid pouted.

"This isn't about me being mean!" Donald argued, his eyes bulging out of his head as he yelled.

"But I was worried about you guys…" Cid explained, although, I doubt that, that was the case.

"If we have a problem, we'll deal with it on our own!" Donald plopped down in the piloting seat, his feathers in a bunch.

"'Kay… and…ng on?" The screen went all static-y and Cid's voice kept cutting in and out.

"LOOK BEHIND US!" Goofy shouted, pointing at the tail-end of the ship, "We're in something's mouth!"

My vision began to fade and I could faintly hear someone humming a familiar tune in my ear, and finally nothing.


	6. Fake Heart

**Author's Note:**_ I'm not really sure how I feel about this one, I'm not exactly satisfied with it, but I want to continue on to the next part of the story, so I decided to post it regardless of my feelings towards it.  
_

_Jaci._

_ Jeez Jaci, you're so lazy._

_Jaci._

"Hey that's our Gummi block!"

"Shut up Donald." I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

"Let go of me!" An unfamiliar voice called out, "I was the one that found it! It's mine!"

"Liar!" Donald screeched.

Sitting up, I let out a slight yawn, staring with bleary eyes at the scene that was unfolding before me; there was a wooden puppet, thoroughly avoiding Donald's grabs towards him.

"I'm not lying!" The little puppet's nose began to glow, growing a couple of inches and sprouting a tiny branch with leaves.

"What's happening Donald?" Sora asked, "Who's he?"

"Sora, he took our Gummi…"

"Hey!" A voice echoed inside Donald's hat, "Pinocchio! It's Pinocchio!" Jiminy cried out while lifting up Donald's hat to reveal himself.

"You know him?"

"Hey kid, you lied again." Jiminy completely disregarded Donald's question, continuing his conversation with Pinocchio.

"Hey Jiminy!" The little puppet boy waved.

"Excuse me," Jiminy hopped off of Donald's head, "I'm his conscience." He floated over to Pinocchio with the help of his trusty Umbrella, "A fairy asked me to help him not stray off the path." Landing in Pinocchio's outstretched hands, he hugged the boy's long nose, "But we've been separated ever since we lost our world. Anyway! I've been watching out for these four… they get off track all the time."

"Come again?" Sora, Donald and I leered at the small cricket while Goofy just laughed obliviously.

"Listen, Pinocchio! You know you're not supposed to tell lies," He tapped Pinocchio's nose with his umbrella, "A lie grows and grows until you get caught, like the nose on your face."

"Sorry Jiminy," Pinocchio said, "I promise to never lie again." His nose glowed once again, but this time it shrank back to its original size.

"That's good. Pinocchio, you need to be good, and then you'll be a real boy. You promised Geppetto you would be a real boy, right?"

"Who's Geppetto?" I asked, although I had a feeling we'd be meeting him sooner or later.

* * *

"What a surprise! It looks like we have company! Right, Figaro?" The old man that Jiminy and Pinocchio had introduced us to, asked his cat, "I'm Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father." He patted his son's head fondly.

"Father! These guys also had a Gummi block!"

"Really?" Geppetto asked, "I'm collecting them so we can get out of here. If we make a boat from these Gummi blocks… we should be able to use them to get away."

"Uh… really?" Goofy asked.

"Wait a minute, do you already have a vessel?"

"Well… we…"

"Where is this place anyway?" I quickly changed the subject.

"We're inside the stomach of a monstrous whale." Geppetto told me.

I blanched, color draining from my face, "S-stomach? Oh this is gross." Worse than the sewers. Much worse.

"I'm going to look for more Gummi blocks, and then we'll be able to make a huge boat!" Pinocchio called out, running away from the wrecked ship.

"Don't go too far!" Geppetto told his wooden son, the man laughed, turning to us, "He's a really impatient youngster, even so, he's very dear to me. I hope that he'll become a real boy… someday." A scream echoed from the direction Pinocchio had headed, "Pinocchio?" A large heartless came trampling through the darkness.

"Help! Father! Someone." Pinocchio called out from inside the Heartless' caged stomach.

"It's a Heartless!" Sora yelled.

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" I retorted, holding back the old man from jumping over the railing to save his son.

"Pinocchio!"

"Stand back, Geppetto. Wait here!"

"But…" His eyes not leaving his son, "Pinocchio is my light! If I lose him, I don't know what I'll…"

"Don't worry…" Sora said.

"We won't let your light disappear." I reassured the old man, bounding over the railing to follow the Heartless that had disappeared into the darkness, "I'll try and make sure it doesn't get away!" Dashing away from the scene, into the dark abyss where at the end of the tunnel, I could make out a light and someone I did not expect to see here of all places.

"You're…"

"It's you again." His aqua eyes glared at me, the Heartless where Pinocchio was being kept stood behind him.

I pulled my bat out of its case, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He smirked, "I'm taking this puppet's heart."

"As if I'd let you do that!" Rushing towards him, bat poised to attack, I slammed it down, the familiar glow erupting from it. Darkness smoldered his hand as it took shape of a sword, blocking my own.

"Don't get in my way!" He yelled as pushed me away from him, sending me flying back a few feet.

"Riku?" I heard Sora let out a surprised yelp from behind me as he appeared from the tunnel, "Riku! What are you doing here?" His eyes drifted to the puppet, "Pinocchio… Riku, what's wrong with you? Do you realize what you're doing?"

Riku's eyes turned from me to Sora, "I was going to ask you the same exact thing, Sora. You only seem concerned about running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"Let go of Pinocchio!"

"No!" Riku yelled, "A puppet that has lost its heart to the Heartless, maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How odd for a puppet… to have a heart in the first place…"

"Wait a minute… what happened to Kairi?"

"Sora…" The tension in the air grew as Riku continued, "Is Kairi or this puppet more important?"

"Riku…"

"What? You'd rather fight me over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart…" Sora's eyes hardened into a steady gaze, "At least he still has a conscience!"

"Conscience?"

Jiminy bounded towards the unconscious Pinocchio, calling out his name.

"You may not want to listen, but it's telling me loud and clear," He brought his Keyblade up, ready to strike, "Riku… it's telling me that you're on the wrong side!"

"Is it?" Riku took a step back, "I get it now." A swirling mass of darkness appeared behind him, "I'll save Kairi on my own." He told Sora as the darkness began to consume him, "You and your friends can continue hunting down the Heartless…"

"W-wait a minute, Riku!"

"You won't be able to save her." And with that he disappeared into the dark abyss.

"Why?" I heard Sora yell.

"Sora…"

The Heartless lunged at us, "Why?"

* * *

We had escaped the monstrous whale on our Gummi ship and were sailing around looking for the next world; Sora was gazing out the window a forlorn look spread across his face.

Goofy and Donald had both tried to talk to him, but he just dismissed their efforts with incoherent mumbling, "Sora." I grabbed his hand, pulling him up from his seat, "Come on."

"Huh?" Pulling him to the back of the ship, where the bedrooms we stayed in were located, "Where we goin'?"

"Away from Donald and Goofy," A blush spread across his face, "Get your head out of the gutter!" I opened the door to the bedroom Sora and I shared, ushering him in, "I don't want them hearing me be sentimental, it'll ruin my image!" I ignored his 'Yeah Right' look, "And I wanted to show you something…"While Sora sat down on his bed, I picked up my baseball case that was lying on my bed and reached into the small pocket on the side, coming out with a picture that was a bit torn and frayed around the edges, "Here." I shoved it into his hands.

"Who's this?" His fingers traced the outline of the two figures, one being me; my large brown eyes held a twinkle they no longer had and a large grin seemed to be etched onto my face, "The boy… who is it?" A blonde boy was next to me, his arm tossed carelessly over my shoulder; his hazel eyes were focused on me instead of the camera.

"He's… he's my light." I looked away from Sora, a slight smile on my face, "He's the one I need to find."

"What was he to you?" This question took me by surprise, I'd never really thought about my relationship with him.

"My friend." He handed the picture back to me and I took it, gingerly putting it back into the pocket of my baseball case, "I know, all of us are going through hard times right now. Losing our worlds… losing our family… our friends… but we have to be strong."

"I know…" His eyes welled up with tears and I sat down on the bed next to him. I couldn't blame him. He was just a kid like I was and everything seemed to be crumbling apart right in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

"It'll be okay, Sora." My arms wrapped around him in a hug, and I felt his drape around my waist, "It'll be okay." I whispered.

We stayed like that for what seemed to be an eternity, his head buried in the crook of my neck as he tried to force back the tears before he exhaled shakily, arms unwinding from my waist.

"You alright?" I asked, rubbing circles into his back.

He nodded his eyes red and bleary, "Yeah." I turned my gaze from him to the window as a silence enveloped us, "What was your world like?" He asked out of the blue, trying to change the subject to a lighter one.

His question took me by surprise, "My world?" I smiled, "Where I live, it was always night. You see, my world is divided into two countries, Nyx and Hemera. I live in Nyx where there is no sun, just the dim moonlight to illuminate the dark sky." He looked to be in awe as I described my world, "I live on a beach…"

"Really? So do I!" His eyes brightened as he thought of his own home.

I laughed, "I'm not sure you would appreciate my beach as much as your own. The water is as black as the sky, and you can never go swimming because it's so cold."

Sora frowned, "I'm not sure I would like that kind of beach." He paused, his face lighting up with an idea, "When this is all over with, you can come to my world! You'll like it! The water's really clear and blue and you can just lie around the beach for the entire day."

The thought sounded nice, basking in the sun, "Yeah, I'd like that."

A comfortable silence ensued but it was quickly broken by a certain dog-like creature.

"Hey guys!" The wistful air that had built up around us was shattered as Goofy barged into the room, "We're about to land on another world!"


	7. WaterLogged Heart

**Author's Note: **_I'm being super ambitious lately with this story, I don't know what's come over me, but I hope you enjoy this chapter. I wasn't really a fan of Atlantica, but I do love Ariel's character so I made this part pretty long. _

"Eh?" My face pressed to one of the glass windows of the Gummi ship as we dove into the ocean of the world we just arrived at.

Fish big and small in all varieties of colors swam frantically away from the ship to avoid being crushed.

"Fish!" Goofy pointed as one by one the fish gathered around the ship which had stilled and was no longer a danger to them.

"Alright!" Donald said, unbuckling his seatbelt, waddling over to the hatch at the back of the ship, "Let's go outside!"

"Ahyuck! We might find a keyhole in this world too!" Goofy followed after Donald's example.

Sora and I looked at each other with wide-eyes realizing we are obviously the only sane ones on the ship.

"Huh? Wait a second!"

"How exactly are we supposed to go outside?" I asked, "We'll drown." And to make matters worse I can't exactly swim.

Donald merely scoffed indicating he had not forgotten about that important fact, "Not with my magic, we won't." He grinned in a way only a talking duck could before winking, "Leave it to me!"

* * *

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed while gazing at the tiny orange fish that swam by, tickling his nose with their tails. Realization hit him surprisingly quick as his face lit up, "No way! I can breathe underwater!" His dolphin tail swished back and forth in delight upon this discovery.

Donald looked rather smug as he floated upside down, his legs now replaced with octopus tentacles, "Of course, I turned us into fish!"

"Wow!" Sora stared down at his new tail in wonder before turning to examine us.

Goofy's whole body excluding his head now took the form of a green turtle with a yellow under belly.

I turned my eyes to my own floating form. My legs had turned into a long snake-like tail that was twice the length of my normal non-fish body; rings of black, dark red and white colored the tail. Scales covered my chest, leaving me shirtless but not exposed and small patches down my stomach around my bellybutton to my tail. My orange teardrop necklace floated around my neck.

"Wow Jaci! You look cool!" Sora grinned as he examined my tail which I had wrapped around him, "It's so… scaly." He commented while stroking it.

I shivered from the contact, batting his hand away.

Our conversation was cut short as deeper into the ocean a feminine voice rang out, "Come on Sebastian! They're right on our tail!"

My hand made its way to my bat satchel which was no longer at my hip but strapped around my shoulder.

A voice that sounded younger called after the other, referring to the owner of the feminine voice as 'Ariel', "Don't leave me behind!"

With my bat in hand I stared at the direction where the voices were coming from with Sora at my side his Keyblade at the ready. Donald and Goofy were behind us, also prepared for a fight.

"Ariel! There's someone ahead! Stop!" A deep bass voice shouted as a young woman with long red hair stopped in front of us nearly crashing into us.

By the looks of her green fish tail she was a mermaid and her two companions were a yellow fish with blue strips and a small red crab.

"Hello!" The girl greeted a large smile appearing on her face, "Are you new around here?"

The crab immediately began to scold her, telling her of the danger of talking to strangers while we remained a bit baffled by the entire exchange.

"Relax Sebastian. They don't look like them." Who's them? "Right Flounder?"

The pudgy yellow fish, who mind you looked about ready to swim for his life away from us, nodded robotically, "Uh-huh."

Ariel brought a hand up to her face, cupping her chin in a thoughtful manner, "Though they don't look like very good swimmers."

I looked at our group. Goofy was flopping all over the place, Donald was having trouble staying up right, Sora was a bit off balance and I didn't know how to swim with two legs, let alone a long snake tail.

Donald quickly tried to come up with an excuse, but I beat him to it, "We've been swimming for miles and miles!"

Fortunately, before they could question us any more, Sebastian, the talking red crab caught sight of whatever it was they were initially fleeing from, "Here they come!"

A swarm of jelly-fish like creatures with the Heartless insignia floating in side of them surrounded us, "It's Heartless!" Sora yelled, his Keyblade at the ready.

Donald, Goofy and I followed his lead, ready to battle.

* * *

And so began our misadventures in Atlantica.

After we saved Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian, they brought us back to a rather magnificent structure resembling a castle that seemed to be made out of the most vibrant shades of coral.

Unfortunately, our initial meeting with Ariel's father, King Triton, could have gone a lot better, but whatever, he should've been groveling at our feet for saving his precious daughter as well as his crabby assistant.

Ha.

Crabby.

Get it?

'Cause Sebastian's a crab and he's cranky, so crabby…

…

Oh forget it.

Last time I try to make a joke.

Anyway, despite the King forbidding us from searching for the world's keyhole we did so anyway, which brings us to now.

Ariel, who had decided to tag along, wanted to go to her secret hideout or something, and we, being the amazing and chivalrous heroes that we are, were escorting her there.

But, I'm not a guy, so I'm not sure if that's an act of chivalry on my part.

"So where is this secret hideout anyway?" I asked Ariel as I swam along side of her and Flounder with Donald, Goofy and Sora trailing behind.

She giggled, "It's not a secret hideout, it's where I keep all of my treasures. Like my dinglehopper!"

I quirked an eyebrow at the unusual name, "Dinglehopper… interesting…"

She nodded furiously, a wide grin on her face as she began her long rant about all of the 'treasures' she has found from shipwrecks.

As she was gushing about her collection I couldn't help but feel she was a bit of a fanatic, but who am I to judge, at least she has a hobby.

Behind us, Sora, Donald and Goofy were busy chatting amongst each other, eyes glancing towards Ariel and me every so often until I finally had enough of their stares and whispers.

Interrupting Ariel midsentence I turned towards them, eyes narrowed, "What the hell are you three whispering about?"

Flounder, who had been swimming next to me, jerked in surprise at the tone of my voice, rushing behind Ariel who looked at the boys with a questioning gaze.

They began stammering but Sora was the first to get out a coherent sentence, "I-it's just that we've never really seen you interact with any other girl besides Yuffie and Aerith and I dunno…"

"Ahyuck, what Sora's tryin' ta say is you sorta act…" He trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Manly." Donald finished for Goofy and both Goofy and Sora sent the half duck half squid a shocked look at his word of choice.

I stared at them blankly, "I act… manly?"

They looked at me wearily, as if I was going to rip their heads off, before nodding with much hesitation.

There was a moment of silence before my face contorted with anger, "Screw you guys!"

"Aw Jaci don't be like that!" Sora told me as I punched him in the arm.

"Shut up dillhole! You're just mad 'cause I have more balls than you!"

His mouth hung open, "W-what? You do not!"

"Ahyuck, what's a dillhole?" Goofy asked Donald who merely shrugged, not having a clue.

"Yeah I do! You're such a girl!"

"No I'm not!" Sora said and as he raised his voice it broke just slightly.

I crossed my arms, eyes narrowed with condescendence in my eyes, "No balls."

"That's not fair!" He whined, arms flailing up and down.

I scoffed while Ariel giggled at his actions, "We should hurry before it gets dark." She said, effectively stopping our argument.

It didn't take very long to get to Ariel's secret hideout which was actually an alcove.

My eyes widened as we all filed inside of the large space, taking in what I saw.

Hundreds of treasures were shattered beyond repair, strewn all over the place and in the middle of the entire mess was King Triton.

Needless to say, that didn't exactly go over well with Ariel who swam off with tears in her eyes while she choked back a sob.

Donald glared at King Triton, "Father or not, that wasn't very nice." Oh Donald, you have such a broad repertoire of words.

"It wasn't me." Triton confessed, his face hard and cold, but it wasn't the face of a liar, "Those dark creatures were in this room." There was a moment of silence before he posed a question for us, "You all are from another world, aren't you?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Sora who held his Keyblade tightly in his hand, "You must be the Key Bearer." His eyes turned toward me, "And you… as the Door you ought to know that one mustn't meddle in the affairs of other world!"

'The Door?' My eyebrow quirked at the two words, 'Didn't that crazy cat say something about that?'I thought, my mind wandering back to our time in Wonderland where the Cheshire Cat had told me I was "The Door".

"But-" Sora went to interject but was shot down.

"You have violated this principle. The Key Bearer shatters peace and brings ruin." Triton said ignoring Sora's face of disbelief, "As long as you're here you'll do nothing but cause harm."

"You're wrong!" Donald told him but Triton dismissed him.

"Thank you for saving my daughter."

_Now_ he thanks us.

"But please stay out of our world."

* * *

"King Triton is just concerned." Flounder stated as he swam next to me, "He doesn't mean anything by it."

"We know." I told the pudgy fish, patting him on the head as he looked down dejectedly.

"I know how King Triton must be feeling, but we have to do what we have to do." Sora confirmed, eyes blazing with determination.

Donald's own eyes seem to light up and Goofy took notice of it, "What's wrong Donald?" He asked.

"Sora realizes what he has to do… never thought I'd see the day."

Goofy let out a sound of agreement and I simply grinned at Sora's deadpanned expression; clearly he was not as amused as I was.

"Hmm?" Donald peered over his shoulder as something caught his attention.

A woman- correction, a very large woman torpedoed past us.

The wind was knocked out of me as she sent us flying with the sheer force of how fast she was swimming, "Outta my way!" She shouted.

I groaned, holding my head with was spinning, "Who was that hag?"

"I have no idea." Sora said groggily.

I saw a flash of red and green as we were forced back once again. Turning my head I saw it was Ariel and she was chasing after the woman with a resolute look on her face.

There was a silence as all of us stared at the red-head disappearing from sight, "Um, we should follow after her, shouldn't we?" I asked.

"Oh… yeah!"

* * *

"Jeez, I'm beat." I moaned, flopping into an empty seat on the Gummi ship, "My fingers are pruned." I stated, taking notice of my fingers that now resembled raisins.

Donald was drying the paper we had found just before we left Atlantica; it was part of Ansem's Journal and we were hoping to transmit it to Cid.

From what I could make out from the report which was slightly smudged, most of the Heartless that we've encountered up until this point were artificial. Ansem himself had synthesized them and to differentiate them from the natural Heartless he put the Heartless insignia on them.

When Donald sent the document to Cid he confirmed what I made out from the report once he analyzed it, further explaining to us what was on the paper.

"So that's how Maleficent did it."

"She created Heartless after Heartless with the machine." Donald said, adding onto my statement, just about to take a seat until the ship lurched suddenly to the side, sending all four of us to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Cid asked.

"We stopped…"

"What the hell was that?" I asked, rubbing the side of my head which hit the wall when I slid across the floor.

"I think we ran into something, ahyuck… something big."

I staggered to my feet to look out the window, Sora at my side and we came face to face with a rather large ship, "What the hell…" I breathed out, "Is that a pirate ship?"


End file.
